CVE-2025-22176 Overview
CVE-2025-22176 is an authorization vulnerability in Atlassian Jira Align. A low-privilege authenticated user can reach endpoints that should be restricted to higher-privileged roles. These endpoints disclose a limited set of sensitive information, including audit log items.
The weakness maps to CWE-285: Improper Authorization. It affects deployments of Jira Align where multiple user tiers access the same instance. Atlassian published a bug report tracking the fix under JIRAALIGN-8645.
Critical Impact
Low-privilege users can read audit log entries and other restricted data, undermining role-based access controls in Jira Align tenants.
Affected Products
- Atlassian Jira Align (per CPE cpe:2.3:a:atlassian:jira_align:*)
- Multi-tenant Jira Align deployments with mixed user privilege levels
- Instances exposing audit log endpoints to authenticated users
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-10-22 - CVE-2025-22176 published to the National Vulnerability Database
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-22176
Vulnerability Analysis
The flaw is a broken access control issue in Jira Align's API surface. Specific endpoints fail to enforce the authorization checks required for the data they return. A user holding only a low-privilege role can issue requests to those endpoints and receive data intended for administrators or auditors.
Atlassian's advisory confirms that audit log items are among the records exposed. Audit logs typically describe user actions, configuration changes, and administrative events. Leaking that content gives an attacker reconnaissance material about workflow owners, portfolio structures, and prior administrative activity.
The attack requires network access to the Jira Align instance and valid low-privilege credentials. No user interaction is needed. The scope is limited to confidentiality; the advisory does not describe integrity or availability impact.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing or incomplete authorization enforcement on specific server-side endpoints. The application authenticates the caller but does not validate that the caller's role permits access to the requested resource. This is a classic function-level authorization gap rather than an input-handling flaw.
Attack Vector
An authenticated user with a low-privilege Jira Align account sends HTTP requests to the affected endpoints. Because the endpoints return data without role validation, the server responds with records the user should not see. No exploit code is required beyond standard HTTP tooling, and no public proof-of-concept has been published.
See the Atlassian JIRAALIGN-8645 bug report for vendor-confirmed technical scope.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-22176
Indicators of Compromise
- Requests to administrative or audit endpoints originating from accounts without administrator roles
- Unexpected HTTP 200 responses on endpoints historically restricted to privileged roles
- Spikes in enumeration-style traffic from a single low-privilege session
Detection Strategies
- Correlate Jira Align access logs with user role assignments to flag mismatches between caller privilege and endpoint sensitivity
- Alert on repeated access to audit log APIs by non-administrator accounts
- Baseline normal endpoint usage per role and surface deviations through SIEM analytics
Monitoring Recommendations
- Forward Jira Align application and audit logs to a centralized log platform for role-aware analysis
- Review authentication and session logs for low-privilege accounts exhibiting administrative-style request patterns
- Track outbound data volumes from low-privilege sessions to detect bulk record retrieval
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-22176
Immediate Actions Required
- Apply the Atlassian fix referenced in JIRAALIGN-8645 as soon as it is available for your tenant
- Audit existing Jira Align user roles and remove unnecessary low-privilege accounts
- Review recent audit log access to identify any unauthorized retrieval
Patch Information
Atlassian tracks the remediation under the internal ticket JIRAALIGN-8645. Jira Align is delivered as a cloud service, so customers should confirm their tenant has received the vendor-managed update. Consult the Atlassian bug report for current status.
Workarounds
- Restrict network access to Jira Align using identity-aware proxies or IP allowlists where feasible
- Reduce the number of low-privilege accounts and enforce least-privilege role assignments
- Rotate credentials for any account suspected of enumerating restricted endpoints
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
